Can you drop that?
by AfroKane
Summary: “Can you drop that?” he asked. She could see that he was not in a good mood.


**Can you drop that?**

_By Afrokane_

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"Neji san. Neji san." Trying to wake him up, she patted his shoulder lightly.

"....Neji san...Neji san. Are you okay?"

He opened his eyes slowly. Immediately, a mixture of pink and green replaced the darkness that surrounded him for what seemed to be a life time long.

"Neji san. Are you okay? Can you hear me?" A hand landed on his forehead softly. A familiar sensation started to well up in his heart.

_**Neji san.**_

He frowned. So it was her again.

"...I am fine, Sakura." He voice was hoarse, and he felt his body ached like hell. His head was pounding heavily. Adding to the fact that she was standing beside him with her annoying voice, he found it almost impossible to concentrate.

"That's good." She smiled. "You have been staying unconscious for two days." Withdrawing her hand from his forehead, she added, "Your fever has gone. Just take some rest now and we will have some check-up with you tomorrow."

"When can I go home?"

"Two days later, maybe. Depending on the results of check-up. But don't worry, everything should be alright." She said.

"You're kidding, right?" He frowned again. Two days? What the hell. He was not going to stay in this damn place with her for two days. That was too much.

"I'm afraid not, Neji san." She sighed. Watching he frowned for the second time in just one minute, she scowled inwardly.

"I'll see you later. Gotta do some works now. Bye now Neji san."

_**Neji san.**_

"...bye." He frowned, for the third time of the day.

* * *

"So, how are you Neji? Still surviving from the deadly S-class mission eh?" The blonde ninja popped down right beside him.

"Still alive." He frowned. Naruto sure was too energetic.

"Where's Sakura chan? Did you see her?"

"I don't know." With her name mentioned, he immediately felt a slight tug in his chest. Suddenly he felt like a child being caught red-handed for stealing candies. This ridiculous and strange reaction was bugging him every time when she was mentioned and it became more serious while she was actually staying around and talked to him. That was the reason why he thought she was so annoying—heck, not that he **_thought_** she was annoying. She **_really _**was annoying.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of blue eye stared at him suspiciously.

"What?" he was irritated.

"What what?" The fox boy mocked.

"Do you seriously think that you can hide something from me behind that stupid face of yours?"

"Do you seriously think that you can deny some feelings for certain pink hair girl behind that troubled face of yours?"

He scowled. He had to admit that the fox boy did have guts.

"I don't understand what you are talking about."

"I don't understand what you are trying to deny about either."

And despite how stupid and insensitive he looked, he did has good observation too.

"Bullshit." He frowned deeper, trying very hard to restrain himself from killing the damn boy.

"Yeah right. Bullshit." Naruto retorted. "Just look at how often you frown every time you are here and you know who really is bullshitting."

Damn.

"And guess what Neji-**_san_**. Sasuke-**_kun_** is coming back to town today. Who know what's going to happen after they haven't seen each other for almost a year?" He smirked.

Damn.

What an annoying Team 7.

* * *

Flipping through her patient record, Sakura saw a familiar name appeared at the very bottom of the last page.

**Hyuuga Neji**

**Room 208**

She sighed. So he was her last patient for today.

_Very well_, she thought. _What a lucky day._

She sighed again.

She has became used to this trend already. Whenever he was in the hospital, she has a tendency to sigh as many times as possible she could. She just couldn't control it.

And she could not blame anyone. It was all her fault, anyway. If she could be more professional and less emotional, everything would be just fine.

Yet, Haruno Sakura was just Haruno Sakura—passionate, emotional and stubborn. Therefore, it should not be surprised at all when Sakura has a special feeling towards Neji—her first and the most favourite patient—or guinea pig—of her life as an apprentice of medi-nin.

Yes—he was her guinea pig, literally. Ever since she has became an apprentice of medi-nin, she has tried and practiced all sorts of medical-related jutsu on his body.

Of course, that was not illegal. Seeing her has a good potential to become a first class medical nin, Tsunade actually ordered and permitted her to practice her medical gutstus in real cases in order to speed up her progress. And Hyuuga Neji happened to become the first lucky person while he was rehabilitating from his severe injuries after coming back from the infamous Sasuke-retrieval mission.

Ironically, Neji seemed to be enjoying his role as her guinea pig, judging from that fact that he came here quite often for all kinds of injuries from his missions. Sakura, of course, would welcome him with her warmest regards every time.

_A doctor was not supposed to fall in love with her patient. _

Maybe if she did not view him as a guinea pig, she would not be attracted to his tiny smile, his pair of alluring white eyes, his gentle voice and ---

And his cursed seal on his forehead.

It felt so good to heal his headaches and provide a sense of comfort to him.

She sighed, for the third time of the day.

It was all her fault, she concluded.

A doctor was not supposed to fall in love with her patient.

She was a medi-nin now. And his name was printed very clearly, for three years already, in her patient record.

**Hyuuga Neji san.**

_**Not Hyuuga Neji kun.**_

Although she had tried her best to hide her feelings, that must be too late.

He must have sensed her feeling towards him and obviously, he didn't think of her that way. That's why he was acting mean and frowning so hard every time he saw her these days.

* * *

"Oi, Sakura-chan." Naruto waved happily while he saw the pink hair ex-teammate entered the room.

"Hi Naruto." Sakura relived while she saw the blonde boy in the room. At least the atmosphere would be better when he was around.

"How are you feeling today Neji-san?" she asked casually while trying to concentrate on her task of performing routine check-up on him.

"Fine." He answered nonchalantly.

"Oi Sakura-chan. Do you know Sasuke will come back today from his S class mission?"

"Really?" she eyes beamed upon hearing the news.

He did not miss that. And of course he did not miss the excitement in her voice while the name Uchiha Sasuke was mentioned.

"Yeah. I am going to meet him later tonight." Naruto said. "Wanna join, Sakura?" for some unknown reason, he fixed his eyes on Neji.

"Of course." She smiled. "I haven't seen him for how long..?"

"**_A year_**." Naruto answer, still fixing his eyes on Neji.

Neji scrowled inwardly. He swore one day he would beat that damned boy up until he begged him to stop.

"..ah that's right. Almost a year. I miss Sasuke-kun so much." Sakura said, as she put her hand on Neji's forehead. "Neji-san, hold on, I'm going to check your temperature. Do you still have headache recently?"

Neji flinched. Every time when Sakura put her hand on his forehead, his headaches almost immediately disappeared. Yet, this time, the pounding in his head worsen.

**Sasuke _kun_.**

**Neji _san._**

What the hell.

He closed his eyes and frowned. She really loved to torture him in every possible ways. For five years, from her beginning to train as a medi-nin until now she had became one of the very top medi-nin in the village, she tortured him as best as she could by using him as her guinea pig to practice medical skill.

Not that he minded to become her guinea pig, though. If he was not her guinea pig, he would not feel such a great peace whenever she touched his forehead, trying to minimize his headache resulting from the side effect of the cursed seal that bugged him every day.

If he was not her guinea pig, he would not found out that she was a sweet, cute and talented girl.

_**And if he was not her guinea pig, he would not be fall in love with her.**_

That's why he tolerated that and pretended not to be aware of his role as a guinea pig.

Yet, that did not mean that he could tolerate to be tortured by her way of calling his name with that annoying suffix.

_**Neji san.**_

That was so unbearable. It made him frowned every time he heard that.

Was it truth that just because he was Neji-san from day one, then he would remain as Neji-san forever?

_**Sasuke kun.**_

And was it truth that just because he was her Sasuke-kun from day one, then he would remained as her Sasuke-kun for the rest of her life?

"Neji san...Neji san! Are you okay?" Sakura asked. Her voice was full of concern, as she saw the uncomfortable expressions that shown on Neji's face.

He opened his eyes and stared at Sakura.

_**Who know what's going to happen after they haven't seen each other for almost a year?**_

_**I miss Sasuke kun so much.**_

Maybe that idiot was right. No matter what, he was going to end this torture. Now.

"NO, I am not okay." He snapped irritably and as if he had heard something devastating to him. His brows drawing together so tightly that they almost crashed with each other.

Everybody in the room – namely she herself and Naruto – were stunned by his sudden change of attitude.

What have caused this abrupt outburst, she did not know. The only thing that she was sure was that the room temperature has dropped at least a few degrees Celsius at that moment.

* * *

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

For a total of 5 seconds, the room was filled with a deadly silence. Only the ticking sound of the clock could be heard. White eyes angrily locked into the green eyes, green eyes confusedly diverted her glace to the blue eyes and blue eyes speciously crinkling back at the white eyes.

"OH... I get it. Are you okay Neji? Are you **_feeling sick_** again?" Turning to Neji, Naruto asked. His blue eyes widened as if something had hit him suddenly.

"Ah Sakura-chan, I guess Neji was not feeling well again. Maybe I'll just leave you guys and see if you can do anything to make Neji feels better." Turning to Sakura, he jumped up from his chair and started to walk towards the door.

"..Wait! Naruto just wait...!" Sakura said helplessly.

"See ya, bye!" Naruto waved them goodbye. "And oh yeah, just tell me if you will join me and Sasuke **_kun_** tonight." With that, the door slammed closed and footsteps disappeared too quickly to be traced.

She sighed. Damned that Naruto. Wasn't she already told him that she would join them tonight?

And damned him for leaving her alone with such an awkward situation.

She breathed deeply, turning her head to face her problematic guinea pig...no, patient, again.

"So what's up Neji san? Which part are you feeling uncomfortable?" She asked.

"Can you drop that?" he asked. She could see that he was not in a good mood.

"What?"

"I asked, can you drop that?" he said irritably.

"Drop what?" She was starting to lose her patience.

"Drop that suffix."

"What suffix?" He was pushing her to the edge.

"That stupid SAN suffix!" he half snapped.

Realization hit her. So he was irritated by the "san" suffix. Just like Sasuke was irritated when she called him Sasuke-kun – well, that was like five years ago, when they were 12. Even Sasuke-kun has already got used to it.

Wait. But why? It was not that she called him Neji-kun. She just called her Neji-san. She called Lee as Lee san too.

"..Why?" she asked confusedly.

".....Cuz this is just annoying." He was angry. Why this girl has to be so dense sometimes?

"Why? It's not like I called you Neji-kun."

"And that's why you call him 'Sasuke-kun'?"

He immediately regretted it after the words spilled out from his mouth.

Frustrated, he closed his eyes. So now what? Told her that he wanted her to call him Neji-kun?

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Five seconds has passed and nobody said anything.

He wondered if he had scared her away.

"Neji s...Neji." Suddenly, he heard her called him.

_Without the suffix._

Ah, that's an improvement, he thought.

He opened his eyes and was surprised to meet her soft and warm green eyes.

"You could have asked." She said. "I asked you to drop that suffix when I first met you. You could have asked too if you wanted me to drop that."

"....I thought it was natural that I called you Sakura and you would call me Neji." He said dryly.

_That's truth,_ Sakura thought, _only if she did not receive the complaint from Sasuke ever. _After all, she was not that stupid to let herself being complained again for the same stupid suffix reason.

"I thought you did not like me to call you Neji." She answered.

"No."

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

"So," Sakura said, "Is it that I can call you Neji from now on?"

_Not really._

"..ah"

_Neji-kun, probably?_

"How about Neji-kun?" She asked, a tint of pink appeared in her cheek.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

For that five seconds, Sakura wondered if she should had asked that question. Maybe it was just her imagination that he was jealous of her calling Sasuke Sasuke-kun.

"Sakura." He said, motioning her to sit besides him.

She put down her patient's record and sat beside him. "What?"

Suddenly, everything swirled as she felt something soft and warm pressed against her lips.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Five seconds.

It took her five seconds to register what has just happened.

So, she has been wrong all the time.

Her guinea pig did have feeling towards her.

She smiled.

Green eyes met white eyes again.

"So, I take it as a yes?"

A pair of strong arms embraced her.

"Not really."

"What?" she protested.

"Only if you stop calling the Uchiha Sasuke-kun." He said.

She chuckled.

"Nah. That's an old habit." She mocked. Yet, that is the truth too.

A strong finger poked her forehead.

"No, you have to stop that habit then. If not..." he smirked.

"What?"

"You will lose your one and only one guinea pig in the world."

Ah. She slapped her forehead. So he pretended to be oblivious of his role of guinea pig **for five years**.

"....sure,**_ Neji-kun_**."

He smiled satisfyingly while hugging her tighter. That sure sounded great.

"So, I presume that you will tell Naruto that you won't be able to join them tonight right?"

Damn.

That's why that baka asked.

"Yeah right, Neji-kun." She smiled.

* * *

Afrokane's note:

Ahhh...my second try to NejiSaku (in attempt to make up to them in my other story "Sakura Mochi") As usual, please excuse my grammatical mistakes.

Do you think that Neji is OOC and moving too fast? I tried pretty hard to keep Neji from being OOC. Please tell me what you think.

Hope you enjoyed this little story. Thanks a lot! :D


End file.
